Imane Khelif controversy: Leaked medical report suggests Olympic gold medallist in women’s boxing a ‘man’

Imane Khelif controversy: Leaked medical report suggests Olympic gold medallist in women’s boxing a ‘man’

Few Olympic athletes have polarised opinion quite like Algeria’s Imane Khelif. For her supporters, especially in the Arab world, she was nothing less than a heroine, a talismanic figure for young girls who aren’t always encouraged to play sport. For her detractors, she was an imposter, someone who shouldn’t even have been competing in the women’s welterweight category. From the moment her Italian opponent left the ring in tears, later saying that she had never been hit so hard, the world was divided into these two camps.

Khelif, who had been disqualified for failing a ‘gender test’ at the World Championships in 2023, would go on to win a historic gold medal in Paris. But such was the noise around her achievement, with even celebrities from other walks of life getting involved, that it was hard to think of another amateur boxer who had come under such scrutiny. Even Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, hadn’t inspired so many column inches.

Now, in the latest twist to the Imane story, a medical report jointly put together by institutions in Paris and Algiers has been leaked to the media. The reported findings add fuel to the fire, suggesting that Imane may have 5-alpha reductase deficiency.

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The report, which found its way to Djaffar Ait Aoudia, a French journalist, also allegedly states that Imane has no uterus, and has internal testicles and an XY chromosome makeup. These can result in the ambiguous genitalia associated with Intersex individuals.

Imane has always argued vociferously that she identifies as a woman, and was born that way. “I was born as a woman, I live as a woman, and I am qualified,” she said in the aftermath of her Paris gold.

Even Donald Trump, who faces off against Kamala Harris in the US Presidential election later today, referenced Imane in one of his campaign videos. The clip, targeting the mistakes of the Joe Biden-Harris administration, said, “Men can beat up women and win medals.”

There is as yet no response from Imane or the Algerian Olympic fraternity, but this is a story they will run and run.